Lafayette Parish Superintendent Pat Cooper released the results of his annual evaluation from the school board on Thursday.

The results show a mixed bag, with three board members giving him the highest possible scores in all 28 categories. Some board members gave Cooper mostly zeros on the eight-point scale, while others had a combination of scores.

In all, Cooper received a 3.54 cumulative score. According to the scale, a three is "average," so Cooper said one interpretation is that his evaluation was above average. However, the forms also state that a successful performance is an overall score of four or higher.

"I'm pretty disappointed in how they handled it," Cooper said. "It looked to me like it was not done in a fair manner. The number that I got, there's a lot of discrepancy in that. If you look at my contract, it says I can be terminated if I get a negative evaluation, but nobody defines negative, so we don't know what that is. The interpretation of this gets to be really mixed up."

Cooper received a cumulative score of 3.416 in the area of policy and governance. In planning and assessment, he received a cumulative 3.361. In the area of instructional leadership, Cooper received a 3.682. For organizational management, he received a 3.428. He received a 3.361 in community relations and a 4.0 in professionalism.

Cooper received the most zeros from board members Tehmi Chassion, who gave him 23 zeros, and Mark Babineaux, who gave him 13. Board member Rae Trahan gave 11 zeros, while Tommy Angelle gave him nine and Greg Awbrey gave him seven zeros.

"I think that in the case of those that just went the zero route, I have a real problem with that," Cooper said. "If things were that bad, it seems like that would have been something they would have a conversation with me about, or willing to do mediation if it was that bad...To me, you have to be dead to get zero. Looking at some specific things, like community involvement, I know we have done well with that....It just seems to me like they were not very thoughtful....If you give that many zeros, to me, that just speaks of bias and it just doesn't seem like the evaluation was used as a tool. An evaluation is supposed to be used as a tool on how we get better, and it wasn't."

Chassion said he looked at the definition of the scores, with a zero meaning "unsatisfactory" when he gave his evaluation.

"For each individual category, there were individual benchmarks, and for each one of those, I could think of specific situations, meetings and policy issues that have arose that warranted me being unsatisfied with his performance," Chassion said. "I gave him zeros, ones and twos. I mean, I graded him fairly. I think to give all eights means you almost did not make a single misstep during this current year, and I find that impossible to believe."

Cooper also suggested that some board members who have historically disagreed with him may have given lower scores as an "ulterior motive" to try to begin a termination process. No termination hearings have been scheduled, and there is no immediate indication that the board plans to move in that direction at this time.

"I'm aware it's an unsuccessful evaluation based upon the tool used to evaluate him," Chassion said. "As far as where this goes, I can't say for sure."

Board member Shelton Cobb was one of three, along with Mark Cockerham and Kermit Bouillion, who gave Cooper the highest possible score, eight, or "distinguished" in all possible categories.

"I think he's doing an excellent job, especially considering what he has to work with," Cobb said. "I expected the evaluation to be objective, and I don't think it was. I think it was a very subjective approach by most of the board members. When I evaluated him last year, I gave him about the same scores, and I feel comfortable in my approach to the evaluation. The superintendent, as an educational leader in our parish, should be able to suggest to the board a course to go, and we should allow him to deliver on that. Even with all of the obstructions, the parish has improved."

Cooper said he is still reserving a right to issue an official verbal or written response to his evaluation at a later date.